class=”basefont”>Well, it’s finally
here. Another new standard for analog modems.
For those of us trying to “squeeze that last 5 miles per
hour out of the same tank of gas” (Kevin
Lacey, firmware development manager at U.S. Robotics)
download/upload speed known as throughput, this promises to be
slightly helpful.
In a nutshell, the
new standard does three things.
-
Startup time – the time
needed to establish a connection – has been reduced,
making hopping on and off the Internet much easier. This
should make it easier to hop on and off the Internet.
Reports from months ago claimed that startup time had
been reduced from around twenty seconds to about five
seconds, though more recent reports put the figure at ten
seconds. (One difference in the figures may be whether or
not dialing time is included, or if the figures only
cover the time when the two modems are screeching at each
other during the connection phase.) -
V.92 has a standard method
of disconnecting the modem long enough to let you know
that someone is trying to call you without losing the
connection, a feature being referred to as “Internet
call waiting.” -
The maximum upload speed
has been increased from 33.6K to 48K, which should
improve video conferencing and general uploading. (aka
V.44)
(Les Jones, www.56k.com)
What does this mean
for me?
Less waiting time,
and less noise. Your modem will (supposedly) connect to it’s
remote modem at your ISP much faster, (Gee, 10 seconds instead of
20!) and do it with less screeching, so all the dogs in the
neighbourhood don’t start howling.
Upload speed increase
of more than 25%. OK, really, how much uploading do you do? For
most, this won’t do a thing. The average mouse click is only a
few bytes, so if it goes at 48k (under ideal conditions) instead
of 33.6k, I can surf faster right? Not really. If you’re
constantly uploading files to a server (webmasters do this alot),
or trying to run Napster, an IRC server, or ICQ file transfers,
you’ll notice a definite speed increase, and so will the people
getting the files. If you’re sending lots of email, you may see a
difference, but for average surfers, this won’t have much effect.
“V.44 – which supersedes the existing
V.42bis modem compression spec – provides 6-to-1 compression that
can improve overall throughput 20 percent to 40 percent. All
told, the effective throughput of a V.92 modem with V.44
compression could be more than 300 Kbps, according to the modem
companies. “Now we’re almost starting to compete with
lower-speed cable modem and DSL [Digital Subscriber Line]
services,” said Craig Garen, general manager of client
access for Lucent’s microelectronics division.” (Todd
Spangler, ZDNet)
I’d like to know just what
kind of “fuzzy math” was used to come up with those
numbers. The V.42 compression spec is 4-to-1, and most users are
uploading at about 32kbps. At 6-1 we may be able to upload at
48kbps, but downloads will still be at 53,333bps maximum (in the
US only, 56000 for the rest of the world). How the heck do they
figure 300kbps?
Internet Call
Waiting. Oh Boy! This has been available (with a software
package) for many years. Now you get to do it directly with the
modem, without having to redial, or retrain the modem. Some users
(and some really poor modems) have set the sensitivity on their
modems so that the “beep” notifying of an incoming call
actually disconnects the modem so you can receive the call.
There’s only one catch. You still must purchase the
“call waiting” option from your phone company for it to
work. This may seem a benefit to some, but there’s a downside.
You’re surfing, using the new V.92 protocall. So are all your
neighbours and friends. Your ISP is fairly busy, and it’s 7:30 at
night. 3 people get phone calls, thus enabling the call waiting
feature on their modems to accept the calls. What’s really
happening? They’re tying up 3 lines to the ISP while they’re
talking to Aunt Dorothy, and 3 other users are getting busy
signals. What if you’re one of the 3 that’s trying to dial in?
Frustrated yet? How about the fact that they’re still talking to
Aunt dorothy when 3 others get phone calls?
What happens when you get a phone call from Aunt
Dorothy, and completely forget the fact that you wanted to get on
the internet at all. Soon, everyone is talking on the phone
instead of surfing, and we just can’t have that!
What if you’re one of the unfortunates who must pay for either
long distance, or by the minute for internet access? Consider
your phone bill when you finally do hang up from talking to Aunt
Dorothy, and realize your modem has been connected to your ISP
the whole time.
Although modem
manufacturers (chipset manufacturers as well) expect to ship the
first V.92 modems late this year (isn’t it late already?), most
ISP’s won’t have upgrades for their current servers until well
into 2001. I would expect most manufacturers will provide some
sort of flash for hardware modems, and a new driver for software
modems, but some chipsets simply won’t accept the new protocalls.
Do I sound skeptical?
You bet. It may be awhile for this to become a true
“standard”, but I can’t see users rushing to purchase a
new modem like we did when 56k (V.90) became standard.
For others, this may just be the perfect opportunity to get that
new translucent blue cased external that we’ve secretly been
dreaming about. I’d venture a guess that current hard modems, and
most soft modems will get their upgrades before any new models
start appearing on the market. Watch for price cuts. Some may be
a good deal, others may be a dump of non-upgradeable modems.
I can forsee a
possible host of other issues as well. The foremost will be the
incompatibility of current phone lines, which are having enough
trouble with V.90, to ever get V.92 working. Second is going to
be a drain on the technician’s work load, as we all can’t install
our new modems ourselves. The (possibly) daunting task of
installing a flash upgrade or new driver is not something any of
us looks forward to, but a necessary evil to keep up with the
ever present changes happening in the computer industry.
On a final note. I
still haven’t seen any manufacturers advertising anything with
V.92, however they (chipset manufacturers) all claim that V.92
will be completely backwards compatible to V.90
Don’t you just love the way all those technical terms get thrown
around?
Good Luck, and Happy
Surfing!
